


Gift

by MidnightFragments



Series: Tenipuri Ficlets [5]
Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 07:34:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18566818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightFragments/pseuds/MidnightFragments
Summary: Sengoku was a lot of things, but an asshole was not one of them. Not until today, that is.He had a full entourage of fascinated girls—and boys—following him everywhere, begging for his attention, but Sengoku... he had to go for the one person Higashikata wanted for himself.





	Gift

**Author's Note:**

> Written for day 2 of the Jimmies week in the Tenipuri Shipping Weeks challenge. Prompt was "Gift".

Sengoku was a lot of things, but an asshole was not one of them. Not until today, that is.

He had a full entourage of fascinated girls—and boys—following him everywhere, begging for his attention. Higashikata could list at least 13 students in their year who he knew for sure would be happy to date him, but Sengoku... he had to go for the one person Higashikata wanted for himself. And Sengoku  _knew_ how Higashikata felt, teased him about it to no end, so to see him kissing Minami... it was a blow.

"Double fault! Love-40."

The thing was, Higashikata was so sure Minami liked him back. He'd never told his tennis partner how he felt, but he always had the feeling Minami and he would end up together eventually.

"Fault!"

But if the way Minami's tongue was shoved down Sengoku's throat yesterday after practice meant anything, Minami wasn't interested in him after all. Quite far from it, actually.

"Double fault! Game, Kita-Nitobe pair. Three games to love."

In the back of his mind, Higashikata was somewhat aware of the concerned look Minami sent in his direction as they switched sides with Kita and Nitobe. He said nothing.

They ended up losing the match, not managing to take even a single game. Minami was a good player - better than people gave him credit for - but he couldn't play a doubles match alone.

"Is everything alright?" Minami asked quietly as they made their way to the locker room.

Higashikata hummed in response.

"Masami, are you sure –"

"I'm fine," Higashikata snapped. He wasn't fine.

Minami dropped it, or so he thought. Higashikata had always been the one who took the longest showers, and Minami took advantage of that knowledge and waited for him to get back to the dressing room. By the time he was done with his shower everyone but Minami was gone, and Higashikata did his best to not look at him.

"You're not fine," Minami said, determined.

Higashikata didn't answer.

" _Talk_ to me, Masami."

"Nothing to talk about," he shrugged, stripping the towel off his waist and hurrying to get dressed. He was awfully aware of Minami's eyes on his naked backside, a tingling sensation spreading through his body.

"We have never lost a match without taking a single game," Minami pointed.

Higashikata pulled his boxers up and turned around. "Then maybe we just don't work anymore," he suggested.

The look of plain shock and _hurt_ on Minami's face almost made him take his words back. Almost. He still remembered how hurt he was himself when he saw Minami kissing Sengoku like there was nothing he wanted to do more in the world, fell asleep crying over it. So no, he didn't take his words back.

It wasn't fair, if he was being honest with himself. He'd never told Minami how he felt about him, and as so, Minami was never obligated to save himself for him. He had every right in the world to go out and kiss whoever he wanted.

"You don't mean it," Minami said.

Higashikata shrugged and turned around again, grabbing his uniform and pulling it on. "Yes, I think I do. Let's tell coach Banda we're splitting up tomorrow."

Minami shook his head, face full of disbelief.

Higashikata finished getting dressed, zipped his bag and, throwing it over his shoulder, headed for the door. "Fine. I'll tell him myself," he said right before exiting.

The sound of the door closing behind him was pretty damn symbolic. Fuck everything.

 

Higashikata had never been more miserable.

He'd never have many friends to begin with, and in the span of two days he lost not just one, but two of them. True to his word, he approached Banda the day after the locker rooms conversation with Minami and told him he was not interested in playing doubles with him anymore. The fact he did it on the court, while all the freshmen and juniors waited for their instructions, raised a commotion.

Banda raised his eyebrows and sent a look at Minami, who was looking miserable, standing by the fence with Sengoku, before returning his eyes to Higashikata. "Okay." He didn't ask questions.

Higashikata turned to face the members of the tennis club, who were all looking at him astonished, and started calling out instructions. Laps, swings, returns practice. Whatever he could think of.

When everyone was busy, the regulars approached him. He didn't miss the way Minami avoided eye contact as they waited for Banda's orders.

None of the regulars questioned them. And just like that, their partnership of two and a half years ended.

The following week, Higashikata cut off all communication with Minami and Sengoku other than tennis practices. The result was he was mostly alone during the day, with not many other people to talk to.

It made him realize just how lonely he was without Minami by his side. And the worst part was Minami acted as if he had no clue what was going on, why Higashikata suddenly cut him off. He kept trying cornering him in the locker rooms, catching him for conversation after joined classes, and Higashikata kept finding reasons to leave before Minami had the chance to say a word.

One day, Minami got on the same bus as Higashikata after school. Minami lived on the other side of town, so Higashikata never tried to think of something to say or do if he found himself stuck with him in small space for 35 minutes.

Minami spent every single moment of those 35 minutes trying to get Higashikata to talk.

"Don't you think you should at least tell me what I did to make you so angry?" Minami begged 20 minutes into the ride. His voice was getting more desperate as Higashikata's stop came closer.

Higashikata was going to answer. He was going to break his week-long silent treatment and snap, but the words died on his tongue as the bus stopped in yet another stop and his eyes locked on a certain spot outside. "That son of a bitch!"

"Ha?" Minami, confused, looked outside. When his eyes found the same spectacle Higashikata saw, he asked, "Sengoku-san?"

Sengoku was outside an ice cream parlor right outside the bus. That in itself wasn't so upsetting, but he was with a pretty girl Higashikata knew from school, Takahashi Yumi, and he was holding her hand and kissing her forehead and paying for her ice cream, and Higashikata could tell for sure it was a date. Sengoku was on a date while Minami was here, trying to get Higashikata to talk.

He could feel the heat crawling up his face.

"Sengoku-san said you haven't talked to him all week as well," Minami said. "What's wrong?"

The fact Minami didn't seem to be all that bothered to see Sengoku and Takahashi—who were currently kissing each other, right there in public—together, made Higashikata finally turn and look at him. Rather than looking outside, Minami looked at Higashikata with a concerned expression.

"Does it bother you that Sengoku-san is dating Takahashi-san?" Minami asked, his forehead wrinkled. Higashikata couldn't grasp the feeling behind his tone.

"I—what?"

Minami sighed. "So this is why you were angry. I always knew you liked guys, but I never thought you liked Sengoku-san like that. I thought—never mind."

Higashikata gaped at him. There were a hundred and one questions he wanted to ask, but the one that jumped out of his mouth first was, "aren't _you_ dating Sengoku?"

Minami stared. He stared, and then he raised his eyebrows in a way that was almost comical. "Me?" And then, "Sengoku-san has been dating Takahashi-san for four months now, Masami."

"But I thought—I saw the two of you the other day. I thought—"

"Oh my God." Minami's face turned scarlet red and he buried it in his hands. "You weren't supposed to see that. No one was supposed to ever know about it."

Ah, there it was. So Minami _did_ like Sengoku, he just never wanted others to know because Sengoku had a girlfriend.

"Sengoku-san was helping me," Minami said with choked voice.

"How is shoving his tongue down your throat _helping_ you?" Higashikata cried out, causing a few heads turn in their direction. He didn't really care.

Higashikata didn't think it could happen, but Minami's face turned even redder. "It's your birthday next week. I wanted to give you something nice, but I didn't know what, so Sengoku-san offered I'd—oh forget it."

"He'd offered what?"

Minami mumbled something under his nose, not meeting his eyes.

"I didn't catch that, sorry."

"He suggested I give you a kiss."

Oh. Oh. "Oh." Eloquent.

"And I thought it was a good idea because I've been wanting to ask you out for a while now and it was a good opportunity, but I didn't want to suck at it so I asked him to teach me how."

 _Oh_.

"I thought you were dating him."

Minami finally looked up and met his eyes. "Oh."

"Oh."

They were a couple of idiots.

"So…" Minami started, face still crimson red. "If I kissed you now, would it be okay?"

Higashikata found himself nodding without realizing. "Yeah," he choked. Clearing his throat, he tried again. "Yeah, it would be okay."

He closed his eyes as Minami slowly closed the distance between them. When he felt soft lips pressing his own, his stomach filled with butterflies, and for a few moments, his mind went blank, before he brought his hands up to Minami's neck and started kissing back.

He's been dreaming of this moment for years. He never thought their first kiss would be on a public bus, or after a week of not talking, or thanks to _Sengoku_ , of all people. But it was good. It was nice. It was perfect.

"You'll have to give me another one of those on my birthday," he laughed after they broke the kiss.

Minami gave him a cheeky smile. "Why wait until your birthday?"

Higashikata had no good answer to that, so he just kissed Minami again. By the time their kiss ended _this_ time, the bus has already passed his stop. He didn't care too much.


End file.
